Lake House | Pachano & Vollert's Architecture

Forest Lake House by Pachano & Vollert materializes subtly as you approach, like a shadow between trees. The New York and Massachusetts based architecture studio designed this large, 6,000-square-foot home to blend softly into the forested, lakeside landscape. Volumes, materials, and textures situate thoughtfully into the surrounding topography, with all elements of the home conceived to meet energy-efficient, passive house standards. “The idea was for the house to disappear or camouflage its scale and appearance, almost like a shadow,” explains Pachano & Vollert co-principal Amparo Vollert. “From the lake, you hardly notice it is there. It’s discrete yet intriguing; textured and mysterious. A home that invites exploration through its materials and connection to the landscape.” Pachano & Vollert were engaged by the homeowners to build a space for their blended family of eight on a small, sloping site in the Berkshires. Respect for the lush surroundings and connection to nature was important to the couple, who are both retired lawyers and also artists. They envisioned a home that was calming and understated but also generous and communal. “They asked for a house that provides enough space for their six grown children when they visit, yet one that also feels intimate when they are alone,” says co-principal Pedro Pachano. “One that fuses areas for communing and solitude, and views of the landscape in each room.” The resulting design joins two simple volumes that meet at a 10-degree angle in relation to an old, beautiful maple tree at the back of the wedge-shaped lot. Restrictions related to a tight zoning envelope, lake conservation, and existing ecology and topography all determined the home’s placement towards the front/streetside of the site. In response to a steep slope from the street to the lake, the architects stretched the home’s plan across three stepped levels that respond to natural gradation and minimize bulk. From the front/streetside, one volume is two stories and the other is a single story, while from the lake, one volume is two stories and the other is three. The home’s exterior siding—a blackened wood—reduces the impression of scale on the small site, with the home nearly disappearing among the trees from some angles. The wood siding was also processed for durability against moisture and insects, making it long lasting and low maintenance. The blurring between home and landscape is enhanced by wood and stone elements, excavated from the site itself, which weave into the exterior siding and deck. “We wanted the house to weather with time,” says Vollert. “Our intention was for all the materials in the house to evoke nature and intrigue the senses, from the way they looked to the way they felt on your hands.” Inside, programs are arranged by level: The main floor gathers common areas and the couple’s bedroom; the second floor features guest beds; and the bottom/lake level comprises a large secondary living room and art studios. Throughout, the studio followed passive house standards of super insulation, airtight construction, and constant fresh air circulation to provide a healthy environment. Across all levels, large apertures perforate rooms and offer wayfinding through the stratified plan. This strategy begins in the streetside entryway, whose angled hall points directly towards a large central aperture and corresponding glimpse of the lake. “We wanted anyone who visited the house to immediately feel a sense of calm and connection to the lake and trees. The windows frame certain views that lead your body towards the main sitting area and kitchen,” says Pachano. Apertures and skylights are also applied to stairwells, creating dynamic transitional spaces between different functions and programs that transform with the vagaries of natural light. “Windows provide frames for discovery and shape the pauses through space. They pull you in and away. They create tension between intimacy and distance, inward and outward, quiet and sound,” says Vollert. Interior detailing throughout is likewise designed by Pachano & Vollert, with custom pieces alongside work from Egg Collective, Dmitriy, Kalon, Allied Maker, B&B italia, and fabrics from Maharam and Schumacher. Overall, the palette is defined by soft colors and textures that strike a balance between calming, organic, and sensual to the touch. Oak clads the floor and custom cabinets in the kitchen and living room, and many of the furniture pieces that Pachano & Vollert designed and selected are hewn from the same material. A focal point, the Pachano & Vollertdesigned dining room table in the living room features a 230-lb, 10-foot live edge rare Bastogne Walnut slab top, supported by a walnut base. Carefully selected stone elements with intricate veining and a deep, organic palette stud the home: Super White Quartzite in the kitchen, whose color recalls a grey stormy sky above the lake. Nestos Beige Marble layers over the fireplace wall and hearth. Tanzania Onyx Stone with red, orange, and ivory swirls resembling otherworldly terrain clads the powder room. Bathrooms feature the light blue mist and grey tone linear veining of Cote D'Azur Marble and the pink glow of the Sky Gold Quartzite. By using primarily organic materials on the interior, the studio brings the experience of the outdoors in, rather than relying solely on views. “It’s a haptic experience that connects with the outdoors as opposed to only being a visual,” says Vollert. “When working within a landscape, we always try to ask ourselves: How can we use this opportunity to restore the relationship between people inhabiting the land and the natural world? How do we inspire the connection with the natural environment? And most importantly, how can we minimize the effects of construction on the ecology of the site?” Vollert continues.

Photography: Naho Kubota

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